Office of Emergency Management

AUXCOMM / RACES

The Kalamazoo County RACES organization consists of approximately 50 amateur radio volunteers.

These individuals are trained and credentialed by the Kalamazoo County Office of Emergency Management, the Federal Communications Commission, and the State of Michigan. Many are also trained weather spotters and report severe weather to the National Weather Service via the Skywarn program.

We have monthly meetings and conduct a RACES net on Wednesday evenings. During the summer months, we do field radio tests in conjunction with the net on Wednesday evenings.

Kalamazoo RACES participates in a Statewide radio net each Sunday, and we have 2 or 3 major exercises per year.

We can be activated through the Honeywell Instant Alert system that other Kalamazoo specialty teams use for call-up.

When normal telecommunications goes down, we use our contingency plan to communicate on designated ham radio repeaters.

More information about our group can be found at: http://kalcountyraces.org